How Comedy Movies Are Changing

Welcome to Up for Debate. Each week, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Question of the Week

I’m still rounding up your emails about the song “Fast Car” and coverage of race in journalism––they’ll run early next week and then we’ll be back on our regular newsletter schedule.

Conversations of Note

Locked Up in a Heat Wave

In a Marshall Project article that draws on work by the ACLU, Jamiles Lartey makes the case that incarcerated people, including children, are at serious risk from lack of air-conditioning:

This week, more than a third of the U.S. population was under excessive heat warnings and heat advisories. Dozens of major cities and states have set new temperature records in recent weeks, including Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which logged its hottest June ever.

Less than an hour from the city is Louisiana State Penitentiary, better known as Angola prison, where the state set up a temporary youth jail last fall, in a building that once housed adults awaiting execution.

A federal court filing this week from the Louisiana American Civil Liberties Union alleges that the youth at Angola face inhumane conditions, in large. In a statement to the court, medical expert Dr. Susi U. Vassallo called the practice “foolhardy and perilous,” and said, “I would not dare to keep my dog in these conditions for fear of my dog dying.”